Best essential oil diffusers

In this post we will be looking at several diffusers and which ones are best.

Frankincense oil

It’s particularly beneficial if you’re used to meditating or doing Yoga. The aroma creates a balance and inculcates a feeling of serenity and calmness.

Lavender oil

Lavender is not just beautiful to look at but the oil has many therapeutic benefits. Since ancient times it has been used as an effective sleep aid.

Lavender may also have cancer fighting capabilites. A 2014 research highlighted that lavender oil can kill breast cancer cells but leave healthy cells unharmed. The test was however conducted on petri dish so we don’t know its effectiveness on himans. Researchers said that “L. angustifolia has cytotoxic and apoptotic effects in HeLa and MCF-7 cell lines, and apoptosis is proposed as the possible mechanism of action.

Clove oil

Clove oil is particularly helpful against bacteria that we commonly find in kitchen and all around our homes. Being anti bacterial it discourages the growth of e.coli, salmonella, helicobacter pylori, and staphylococcus.

A few drops in a diffuser for one night in a week should be enough to put all bacterial souls to rest. You can also clean clothes, utensils and doorknobs with clove oil.

Other benefits

Odours are processed by the limbic system and the aroma generated from essential oils are processed by that system. Incidentally limbic system is also responsible for relaxation, sleep and emotional control.

We spend a lot of time inside. Shouldn’t we make the air we breather better? Instead of inhaling toxic fumes from burning candles, fully safe ultrasonic diffusers provide clean air without any of the ill effects.

Word of warning from essential oils

Within the vastness of the internet there’s also a big problem. The problem of misinformation. There are many who say that essential oils can help your breathing problems. That’s not always true. Essential oils can exacerbate the problem. Don’t ever use scented candles if you’re asthmatic and see if diffusers are causing you any problem.

Oils that release shown to release compounds that have, in other studies, been associated with aggravating breathing troubles. In addition, “anecdotally, there have been reports of respiratory symptoms in asthmatics and non-asthmatics due to a variety of diffused essential oils,” the AAAAI experts write.

Disadvantages of using lower capacity diffusers

Low capacity., say 120 ml essential oil diffusers run for 3 hours continuously. You can stretch it to 6 hours if you choose the option whereby it mists intermittently.

Still, you’d have refill the tank on a regular basis and that’s taxing.

Another fact that works in favor of larger tanks is that as large the tank goes the thicker does the mist produced.

And even after using a large diffuser you don’t get the desired results try increasing the oil content in the tank.

Ultrasonic diffusers

Ultrasonic diffusers are most preferable because they make very less sound. The least sound makers are nubilizing diffusers but they’re quite expensive.

This is how ultrasonic ones work. They have a vibrating diaphragm that turns the essential oils and water into a cool mist. Something like the steam you see in boiling water but here no heat is required, the vibrations produce enough agitation to generate mist. There’s a soft whirring noise that you’re most likely to miss unless you’ve very sensitive ears or are holding the diffuser close to the ears. Most such diffusers are enough for a single room. Often they have additional whistles called the chakra or rainbow colors and when you turn the lights off it’s fun to look at. The aroma matches what you get from scented candles without the smoke.

Predominantly, these come in two designs. First is a design that mimics wooden texture, color and grains. They feel cheap when you hold them in your hands and have none of the heaviness or quality of wood. The second ones are made of translucent plastic and change colors with the mist.

These look beautiful and out of the world.

How do they compare to scented candles?

Diffusers are much better than scented candles on every respect. Ultrasonic diffusers don’t use heat and are generally considered safe even for children. They don’t produce any harmful smoke. The smoke effect from candles is compounded by the fact that mostly candles burn in closed rooms which can result in burning in the presence of insufficient oxygen and produce harmful gases like Carbon Monoxide.

Additionally, candles cannot be timed unlike medium to large diffusers that have inbuilt timers. Or an option to set it to run for sometime, then automatically switch off and start again. This allows you to run it several times without refilling. As soon as the candle goes off the scent vanishes. We tested it. After blowing off the scented candle the scent lasted for around 30 seconds before dying off eventually. Good quality diffusers have their scents lasting from 15 minutes to up to an hour after switching it off.

These are all excellent features that tip the scales in favor of diffusers.

Features expected from essential oil diffusers

How did we test?

We tested the different diffusers listed here based on factors like how long it took for the aroma to spread around the room (one end to the other), how long did the aroma last after the diffuser was turned off and how efficiently did they spread the essential oil vapours.

One thing we noted is with lower capacity diffusers you’ll need to refill the water and the essential oil mixture every 3 hours or so. It’s better to get a higher capacity model that comes without these constraints.

UrPower Aromatherapy diffuser

The essential oil diffuser is designed in a texture that represents wood. It’s beautiful to look at and could be mistaken as an ornamental artifact.

There’s a day and night function. The day function allows mists to appear and the night function doesn’t have that.

The outer structure looks like its made of wood but it isn’t. That makes it really easy to clean. Along with that it also lacks the solid handful feel that’s otherwise felt with wooden diffusers.

It can hold up to 500 ml of water and produce emissions corresponding to that.

Pros

Easy to clean

Lightweight

Offers three modes of operation: simple day mode, night and works as humidifier.

TaiTronics

It’s a stylishly put together essential oil diffuser that goes easy on the pocket. It’s a large size model that’s very capable of spreading the aroma to everywhere in the house.

Even the way it liberates steam is a sight to watch and children are going to crowd around it. It releases a very light stream of mist in rainbow colors.

The mist stream cannot be adjusted and over time could result in mold build up.

The Tritonics

Tratronics diffuser is large and can run up to 8 hours or even more filling the room your sleep in or your living room or any other room with wonderful aroma without a hitch.

There’s auto shut down feature should the water run out. The automatic timer can be set to shut down the device in 3 6 or 9 hours.

The unit consists of two parts which easily come apart. This is great because cleaning Tratonics won’t be a hassle. The base will have four resting pads and a plastic top that emits the light and the mist.

Here’s how to get down to using it. The tank will have a line indicating the maximum limit to which you can add water. Pour water until that limit. After that, add a few drops of essential oil.

The triatonic diffuser lets out a small beep when it shuts down. Most people using essential oils during sleep time tend to be light sleepers and if you’re among them then

Put the cap back in place. Plug the device in place and you are ready to go.

On the side you’ll find two buttons one for mist control and the second one for changing light settings.

There are 7 different mood lights: The light color button allows you to choose one. Pressing on the button displays one color and if it isn’t something you like you can press the button and keep pressing till all options are exhausted and you find something you like. Colors range from purple, icy blue, green and others. You can also keep the diffuser running but the lights off.

There is no intermittent mist mode. Instead the available option lets you set a time say 3 or 6 hours upon which the diffuser will shut down automaticlally.

Pros

Its build is large providing it large capacity

7 colors to choose from

InnoGear Essential Oil Diffuser

The essential diffuser from InnoGear brand is by far one of the best we’ve seen. The design is great with a blue hue and comes with two options dark and light.

The mist output is adjustable and the light gets displayed in seven rainbow colors.

Pros

Works equally well in both small and large rooms

Has a learning curve

It operates on ultrasonic mode which is very quiet and the low hum is the least disturbing thing you’d find.

DoTerra Diffuser

The DoTerra Petal Diffuser is a very strong contender among essential oil diffusers. It is built very well and the pieces can be joined easily. The complexity level is not much since there are only two pieces.

DoTerra doesn’t feel cheap on your hands.

We found that the aroma spreads very quickly and covers from one corner to the other in about half a minute which is quite quick.

The permeation levels are better than any other diffuser we’ve seen so far. The design is also great. When working, it lights up to a soft white color and has more light than most diffusers.

Cleaning your diffuser

You should clean your diffuser every few days so that mold doesn’t start building on it. Oil build up and dust can shorten the lifespan of the device. Each product will have a set of instructions that if carefully followed can extend its life and ensure you get the best performance. A fragrance free soap should be sufficient to clean the insides of the diffuser. A few drops of vinegar along with water and soap should do the trick. Finally rub it down to remove moisture before using it again.

Concluding thoughts

What do you think of the essential oil diffusers we have reviewed so far? Have you used any of them before? Our criteria was to choose not only ones that smell good and spread that smell far and wide but also last long and are beautiful to behold.

In all our tests we didn’t bother getting the water distilled to run any of our tests. You may obtain better results with distilled water since there are no impurities present. It’s just the oil and water. However it’s not a problem if you use tap water.